Adopt These 10 Inspiring Body Language Traits of Highly Successful People and Become Successful

Body language represents a huge part in our daily communication with other people. It became an essential part of who we are. When people feel or not feel an instant connection with us that is directly related to how our bodies communicate with that person.

Having a proper body language is vital in developing healthy relationships- both work and personal.

If you take the time to admire highly successful people in the eyes of the society, you will most likely be able to see traits that are same for all those people.

If you actively follow things they say or how they say it, you will be able to notice that they all developed a certain body language style- one that communicates confidence and attracts success.

These 10 inspiring body language traits can change your life in a way that you will be perceived as a different person.

You are eliminating the possibility of sabotaging your career or a potential relationship due to being seen as rather unconfident and nervous person.

1. Keep smiling

You will often meet people who will avoid smiling a lot because they perceive their smiles as unattractive. It does not matter if you do not have a million dollar smile.

Realize that smiling conveys an important message- one that clearly states you are a trustworthy, honest and likable person. One that you are the person anyone can approach and engage in a conversation. One that will instill confidence in others and make them feels special.

None of those things are correlated to how your smile actually looks like.

Keep in mind that smile is a powerful weapon that should be utilized the right way. That means there are situations when smiling can be considered inappropriate.

When you are engaged in a conversation with a colleague who is telling a story of his failed relationship- a smile is not an option. When you are meeting someone, and you are approaching them for the first time- a smile is a necessity.

2. Give a firm handshake

The most prevalent trait of weak and unsuccessful people is a weak handshake. After incorporating a smile when engaging in a job interview or a business venture, the next most important thing is having a firm handshake.

A weak handshake shows submission. It does not communicate confidence. It does not say that you are here to conquer and interact with others, rather it shows your submission to the other person.

However, never go extreme and hurt someone. There is a difference between a firm handshake and a tough squeeze of someone’s hand.

A great bonus tip is a trick of rotating your wrist and positioning your hand slightly above someone else’s, which will directly show your dominance over that person.

3. Sit up straight

Not only that bad posture is bad for your health, but it also has serious consequences on how people see you.

Sitting sloppy and looking like you can’t carry yourself physically, implants a belief in people that you can’t carry yourself mentally either.

Sloppiness is an obvious trait of unsuccessful people; those who do not care how they sit or stand, and do not even notice that they give clear and valuable signs of not being equal to people around them.

It takes a lot of time to cure this nasty habit, but the solution lies in inculcating a thought that every time you sit or walk, you keep your body straight.

4. Avoid crossing your arms at any cost

Have you ever noticed how security guards standing in front of clubs always keep their arms crossed? They are trying to send a message that they are not up for communication and they aren’t trustworthy.

Their value lies in being tough and everyone’s perception of security guards is obvious. Rarely anyone ever approaches them, and most are terrified by the body language of these people.

So what crossed arms tell others about you?

Observe people who seem nervous. Often time, you will notice how they show their insecurity by not knowing what to do with their hands. They end up crossing them which clearly cuts off further communication. Even if you do great with smiling or having a straight posture, you can easily screw up by crossing your arms.

Similar rules can apply to crossing your legs when sitting. Whatever you are doing, make sure your body is conveying a message that you are open for communication-and the best way to do that is by having open gestures and eliminating the need to cross arms or legs.

Treat this habit the same way as having bad posture while sitting- by having a constant reminder in your head of what you are not supposed to do.

5. Maintain eye contact

A clear sign of submissiveness is avoiding eye contact. People who can’t maintain eye contact are perceived as unconfident and unsuccessful.

A problem that arises with maintaining eye contact is that this habit is hard to develop if you have no confidence in yourself. By not being able to sustain an eye contact, you are indicating nervousness and disinterest in what other person is telling you.

This can have a harmful effect on all of your life’s relationships. Imagine talking to a girl, and why she is engaged in explaining some experience, you are looking down at the ground. She will immediately lose interest in you, and you will feel bad for not being able to keep up.

Via: GraphicStock

Sustained eye contact radiates confidence, leadership, and intelligence. It attracts people to you and keeps them engaged in conversations.

A trick you can apply is that you do not have to look the other person directly in the eyes. If you try to look them in the nose, they will not know the difference.

This is a method many people use frequently, and it is proven to work brilliantly.

As excessive smiling can cause an opposite effect, a too intense eye contact can do the same. Do not stare at the person you are communicating with; instead, try to keep an eye contact for 70%-80% of the time. This suggests that you are clearly interested in the conversation, but not a creep who stares.

6. Gestures can go a long way

A large percent of body language represent gestures that can either help you or destroy you, depending on how you use them.

Countless times we have seen people who use exaggerated gestures that showcase a person’s interest in over-emphasizing a certain point.

When you use exaggerated gestures, you show nervousness, and people might conclude that you are trying to stretch the truth.

via: GraphicStock

You should aim for balanced and controlled gestures that convey a rather different message- one that you are a confident leader who can use his hands and his body to openly support everything that comes out of the mouth.

Spreading the arms apart and showing the palms of your hands are two very popularly ways of supporting your claims.

The best way to learn how to use appropriate gestures is to watch politicians while giving a public speech. You will be able to see that they always keep their palms open to the crowd, their arms widely spread, and their posture straight and sharp.

Politicians are great examples of a good body language- they need to be perceived as confident leaders who are supposed to make world-wide changes.

7. Maintain an active posture

We have already mentioned in this article the importance of having straight posture while sitting, and we have decided to make another point of maintaining an active posture while standing or walking.

These two points are obviously correlated- by keeping an active posture while sitting, you can cure your habit of slouching.

There are several exercises that you can incorporate into your schedule that will prevent having a bad posture. A technique used for keeping a neck in the right position lies in making a big lifestyle change. You should be removing a pillow from your bed every time you go to sleep. This technique will prevent your neck from being in an inappropriate position for several hours every day.

Also, by having workout rich life with frequent back exercises, you will strengthen the muscles that hold the spine, which will result in a better and more stable posture.

Another great addition to having a stable and active posture is adding a couple of inches to your height. It is well known that by slouching, you temporarily shorten your height by at least 4 inches.

8. Avoid touching your hair or face

A problem that often rises with nervousness is what to do with hands and where to put them. People who are under a lot of stress or feel sudden anxiety often rub their face with their hands or play with hair.

Try to radiate confidence and leadership in front of other people; that includes a complete control of your body movements. Your hands can’t constantly run to scratch your neck.

Take use of the advice given above in this article that clearly suggests what to do with hands. Open palms and controlled hand movements are two clear signs that you are successful and confident in yourself.

A perfect method you can adopt is to every day watch a confident person and observe his/hers movements. See how they act, and how they present themselves to you.

A lot of people took some of the famous actors as great teaching examples- one that naturally and clearly instills confidence is the character of Harvey Specter from the popular TV show Suits.

By watching the example of mighty Harvey, you can definitely pick up great pointers regarding a body language.

9. Talk with your hands

Your hands are your body language tools. The above mentioned tip about open palms helps a lot when explaining, but if you want to come across as intelligent and interesting, you might want to adopt the “steeple the hands” method.

This method is more commonly known as “Merkel-Raute,” as it is popular among politicians. It was scientifically proven that steeple hands instill trust into other people and that is why politicians gladly use this technique to perceive trustworthiness.

However, this method is no suitable for every environment. Rather, it is recommended to be used in a formal way, when talking to superiors. A great result and a jump in credibility can be achieved with ease.

When trying out this method, try not to lower them down in the middle of the conversation as the other subject can recognize it as a sudden drop of interest.

10. Maintain distance while talking

Have respect for someone’s personal space. Most people do not like when others get too close to them and I am pretty sure you do not too. Violating an individual’s personal space can make them feel uncomfortable.

A better way to capture their attention is with words and maintaining an eye contact. That will, for sure, keep them engaged in a conversation with you and they will find you more likable.

Also, try not to talk loudly. If you have something interesting to say, all eyes will be riveted on you. You will not feel the need to raise the voice for others to pay attention to you.

Summing up

We came up to the conclusion of this article, and by this point, you should already be planning how to develop your habits and change your body language according to the most successful people.

Remember, success is the thing you attract. And prerequisites for success do not only include how much money you have or how hard you work. Successful people have an intelligent way to say things, they behave in a certain way, and they project confidence with their body language.

People look up to them because when they are engaged in a conversation, they try their best to have an open and charismatic body language. One that says I am a confident and successful person who is not afraid to show potential.

Which body language trait you think is the most critical one that anyone should adopt?